英语听书《白鲸记》第725期

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Chapter 83 Jonah Historically Regarded

第八十三章 从历史上看约拿

Reference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whale in the preceding chapter. Now some Nantucketers rather distrust this historical story of Jonah and the whale. But then there were some sceptical Greeks and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagans of their times, equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale, and Arion and the dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did not make those traditions one whit the less facts, for all that.

关于约拿和大鲸的史实，前一章已经提到了。现在有些南塔开特人还是不大相信约拿和大鲸的这番史实。不过，还有一些持怀疑论的希腊人和罗马人，他们坚持他们当时那种传统的邪端异说，对海格立斯与大鲸，对阿赖翁（阿赖翁——公元前七百年左右的希腊诗人及音乐家，传说他由西西里的一个音乐竞赛会中得胜回家时，途中被船人投入河中，后来为集结于船旁听其奏乐的海豚救到丹那拉斯去。）与海豚的传说同样表示坚决怀疑；可是，尽管如此，他们之怀疑这些传说，丝毫没有使这些传说不能成为事实。

One old Sag-Harbor whaleman's chief reason for questioning the Hebrew story was this:—He had one of those quaint old-fashioned Bibles, embellished with curious, unscientific plates; one of which represented Jonah's whale with two spouts in his head—a peculiarity only true with respect to a species of the Leviathan (the Right Whale, and the varieties of that order), concerning which the fishermen have this saying, "A penny roll would choke him"; his swallow is so very small. But, to this, Bishop Jebb's anticipative answer is ready. It is not necessary, hints the Bishop, that we consider Jonah as tombed in the whale's belly, but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth. And this seems reasonable enough in the good Bishop.

有一个萨格港的老捕鲸人，他驳斥这个希伯来故事的主要理由是这样的：他有一本古色古香的《圣经》，里面有好些希奇古怪、缺乏科学根据的插图，其中，有一幅画着约拿那条大鲸，头上长有两个喷水孔——就大鲸（露脊鲸和各类鲸）的种类说来，所显现的特点是再正确也没有的了，关于这一种鲸，捕鱼人向来有这种说法："一个一分钱的馒头也会把它哽死；"说明它的食道很小。但是，在这一点上，哲布（约翰·哲布（1775—1833）——英国神学家。）主教早就有现成的预示式的答案。这个主教说，我们不必认为约拿是葬身于鲸腹中，他不过是暂时呆在鲸嘴的什么地方而已。这个善良的主教所说的话，看来倒是颇为合理。